These notes are mainly for the Web-based Courses, but can also be adapted for my Lecture-based Courses.
Notes on Reading Reports and Essays are included on this Page.
There are also other Pages which describe the standards I use when grading Essays and Reading Reports, and a couple of Pages to show how I would prepare for the Essay on the Life of Abraham, and how I would prepare for, and answer, a question which asked me to "write an account of the events described in II Chronicles, chapters 34-36"
1. Do the work
The Web-based Courses are reckoned to be worth 3 Credit Hours, which is equivalent to at least 6 hours of work each week. If you were in class you would not only have to attend the class sessions each week, but also do several hours of homework, research, and consolidation each week.
You will probably find the work more manageable if you schedule an hour a day, Monday through Saturday, as your "Class Time" and develop the habit of working exclusively on course material during that period.
You should not expect to do well if you think that you can do a week's work by sitting down at the computer and banging out answers for half an hour a week.
2. Send it in on time
The normal dead-line for Reports and Essays is 9 am Monday of the week following the assigned readings.
Work which is sent in after the due date will be downgraded by one letter grade (1 week late) or more (2 weeks late).
Work which is more than 2 weeks late may receive an "F".
Work may always be sent in ahead of the due date, but might not be graded until the due date.
If you have an emergency situation (illness, accident, family emergency) which will make it difficult for you to complete an Assignment on time, please contact me, preferably before the work is due, so that I can be aware of the situation and make allowances if possible.
Exam dead-lines are different, and are posted on the relevant Web Pages.
Reading Reports
My Web-based Courses all require weekly Reading Reports (REL 101 and REL 103) or Assignments (REL 400-level courses). To help with this, the Course Pages for REL 101 and REL 103 have Reading Logs for each Week. You may print out and use the Logs for notes during the week. The Logs will help you break down the Assignments into smaller sections for study each day, Monday - Saturday so that you may use them during your daily "Class Time".
For "Key Verses" for REl 101 and REL 103 - there are no right or wrong answers - just write out in full the 6 individual verses from your week's reading which meant something special to you, or which you would like to remember. Writing them out in full will help you to remember them if you need them in the future. The verses should come from the section of Scripture which was set for study during the week. See the FAQ Page for further information on "Key Verses". "Key Verses" only apply to REl 101 and REL 103.
If a question asks you to "write an account of the events described in chapters . . . "
It generally means tell in your own words what happened, rather than just make a list of events or skim over some of the points.. Some of the passages are rather long - several chapters of Genesis, for example - and for those you could give a condensed version which covers the main events (and which will probably take about 10 lines). If the question specifically asks you to write a "brief account" or a "brief summary" then just give the main points - (who did what, where, when, why, and what were the results)
Go here to see how I would prepare for and write "an account of the events described in II Chronicles, chapters 34-36".
If a question asks you to "write an account of the life of . . "
Think about what you have read in the Bible about that person, rather than what you may have read in a historical novel or seen as a film or video (which are often not true to the record in the Bible). It may help to make some preliminary notes of the main events in the person's life, in chronological sequence. Then write the story of the person's life in your own words, as if you were telling it to someone who had not heard it before, using a paragraph for each of the main events.
For someone who lived in the past, use the past tense (he did, they saw, etc) rather than the present (he does, they see).
Be careful not to switch between past and present tenses (eg. he came to them and he says . . .).
For someone who lived before the time of Jesus - people back then did not use our time system of BC and AD, so it would be anachronistic to write "I was born in 2,000 BC". It is better to use a more general time reference, such as "I was born several generations after the Great Flood", or "I was born at the time when the city of Ur was very powerful."
Try to write a connected account, rather than a "list" of events or topics.
Go here to see how I would prepare for "an account of the Life of Abraham".
If a question asks you to "describe the teaching" contained in a certain passage, it means that you should say "what" the teaching was : eg. "that we should not steal" rather than "about stealing"
If a question asks "How does the text-book describe . . ." a good answer can often be given by using the phrase or sentence in bold type which is printed in the text book at the start of the section dealing with that passage.
Essays
Essays should be prepared with a word processor and proof-read for typos, spelling, and grammar before they are sent to me. The standards of Edited Standard Written English, ESWE will be applied to the Essays. Essays which contain many mistakes in grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation may be downgraded.
Essays should be sent as an Attachment (see the FAQ Page for information on Attachments).
In an emergency essays may be copied and pasted into the body of an e-mail message and sent to me at the Course e-mail addresses.
Essays should be from 3 to 10 pages in length (except for Essay 1 of most courses, which may be 1 to 3 pages). You may use any font you wish, but for calculating the length of an essay I may convert it to Times New Roman 12 point, double spacing, with 1 inch margins to the page.
Essays which fall short of 3 pages may receive a lower grade.
Essays which are 1 page or less in length will not be eligible to receive an "A".
If the Essay asks for "an account of the life of . . "
see the notes for Reports (above).
Go here to see how I would prepare for an "Essay on the Life of Abraham".
If the Essay asks you to "discuss the theme of . . . in the Old (New) Testament" a good way to prepare is to think about what you have read about that topic in your Bible readings to date, and locate some of the Scripture passages which deal with it. A Concordance can be a great help for locating passages which contain a key word. Then write about the subject, giving the Scripture references and writing out some of the main passages to illustrate your answer.
If the Essay asks you to discuss something "with reference to the Book of . . . " it is best to concentrate on what that particular Book tells us about the subject, rather than what commentators or later writers thought about it.
How to write an account or essay
- Read the passage and make notes of the events in the sequence in which they occur in the passage.
- Decide which are the main events and which are secondary. (which are the most important)
- Re-tell the story in your own words, as if you were telling it to someone who has not heard it before, using a paragraph for each of the main events.
- If the account is of something which happened in the past, use the past tense (he did, they saw, etc) rather than the present (he does, they see). Be careful not to switch between past and present tenses (eg. he goes to them and he said . . .)
- Try to write a connected account, rather than a "list" of events or topics. (don't write : "He came to Capernaum. He healed someone. He taught in the synagogue. He had supper. He went away." or "Healing of a blind man, teaching the crowds, the parable of the sower")
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
Department of Religion
ENMU Station 19
Portales, NM 88130
Last Updated: May 28, 2010
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